Canadian buyers face growing financing hurdles
PALM SPRINGS - If you bought property in California, Arizona, Nevada or Florida before April 2008, you may have secured yourself the best financing terms Canadians are likely to see for some time.
At that point, foreign investors, including Canadians, were required to put down as little as 20 per cent, and were offered interest rates between five and six per cent.
As the American real estate crisis deepened, increasing numbers of financial institutions began to indicate the drastic impact it was having on their bottom line, and subsequently their ability or interest in lending money on properties located in these four hard-hit states. Down payment requirements went up, along with interest rates, for everyone -- but it seems to have hit foreign investors hardest.
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